Sellers offer and buyers purchase countless products and services over the Internet. To do so, buyers and sellers typically authorize a payment transaction for each purchase.
Assume, for example, that a buyer named “Bonnie” purchases three items from a seller named “Sam”. Bonnie purchases a book from Sam on Monday, a DVD on Wednesday, and downloads a song on Friday. To pay for these items, Bonnie first sets up an account on Sam's website, enters her name, credit-card number, and address. On Monday she selects the book, is directed to a purchase screen where she checks on the price and other details, and then selects to purchase the book. On Wednesday she selects the DVD and, even if her account information is saved and readily available, she still has to check through the price and other details before she can select to purchase the DVD. On Friday she selects the song, checks that the price and other details are correct, and then selects to purchase the music. Bonnie separately authorized three different payment transactions.
Assume, also for example, that a buyer name “Billy” wants to purchase the right to play video games online from many different sellers of online gaming services. Each time he wants to play a game he may need to authorize a payment transaction. If he plays two games on Monday, one on Tuesday, and twelve games on Saturday, he may need to separately authorize fifteen payment authorizations. As this and the other example illustrates, requiring a buyer to separately authorize payment transactions for multiple items or services can be tedious and time consuming.